The corridor became a smear of white walls and fluorescent lights.
Lila never loosened her grip on my hand.
She dragged me through the maze with a desperation I'd never seen from her before. Scientists stepped aside with irritated sighs instead of fear. Soldiers glanced up from tablets and conversations, their expressions carrying little more than mild annoyance, as though we were patients who had wandered into the wrong wing instead of prisoners escaping containment.
Everything about it felt wrong.
The pounding of our footsteps echoed through the hallways, yet nobody shouted after us.
No alarms screamed.
No rifles were raised.
No boots thundered behind us.
Only the frantic rhythm of Lila pulling me forward while my mind struggled to understand why the world around us refused to react.
We rounded another corner.
A young scientist carrying a stack of folders stepped directly into our path.
Lila slammed into him shoulder first.
Papers exploded across the polished floor.
